A "key hurdle overcome recently by officials" trying to bring the ‘16 MLB All-Star Game to San Diego was “avoiding schedule conflicts with Comic-Con and several other annual summer conventions,” according to David Garrick of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. High-tech mapping company Environmental Systems Research Institute typically holds an annual convention in the city each July. However, ESRI officials “agreed to tentatively re-schedule their event … to a different part of July than usual” in ‘16. San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau CEO Joe Terzi: “They agreed to move so we could put the All-Star Game in their spot.” Garrick notes if MLB “chooses a different city than San Diego to host the game, the ESRI convention will return to its normal time frame.” Terzi indicated that “several smaller conventions and events also agreed to move” in ‘16 to “make way for All-Star Game events.” He said that “concerns about conflicts prompted officials to explore moving Comic-Con, which wouldn’t overlap with All-Star festivities.” However, that event is “scheduled to begin just a few days after.” Garrick notes Comic-Con is San Diego’s “No. 1 annual convention with typical attendance of 130,000 and an estimated economic impact” of $180M per year. The All-Star Game is “expected to draw 60,000 tourists.” Terzi said that a decision from MLB is “expected early” in '15 (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 12/31).
UNCHARMED LIFE: In Baltimore, Peter Schmuck writes no one is saying exactly why Camden Yards has “gone from being called a ‘very, very viable candidate’" to host the ’16 All-Star Game by outgoing MLB Commissioner Bud Selig in May to “being all-but-officially out of the picture, but you can draw your own conclusions.” The Orioles are “embroiled in what has become a nasty legal battle with MLB over its involvement in the rights fee dispute” between MASN and the Nationals, so “it's not hard to connect the dots and reach the conclusion that Selig and MLB aren't in the mood to reward” the Orioles and Owner Peter Angelos. If that is the case, it “would be a disturbing postscript to Selig's successful tenure as commissioner” (Baltimore SUN, 12/31).
